Barbara sat on a bench by herself at a park in National City. They had a few days before Lena's event so Barbara had made plans to meet with her friend Kara and catch up. She watched as Harley skipped her way past pedestrians towards a hotdog stand as they waited for Kara to meet them. It was just the two of them, Watcher 1-5's crew were busy setting up a listening and observation post for Barbara to use during the operation. As she waited Barbara scrolled through the news feed on her phone for any indication of how Alex and Ivy were doing in Seattle but there was a significant lack of reported gunfights or explosions so everything must be going well on their end so far.
Thoroughly bored, Barbara sighed and put down her phone and settled on watching Harley interact with people some more. Harley was happily chatting with the hotdog vendor. She must have made some sort of joke as the people around her started laughing. The woman was so silly sometimes that Barbara had to remind herself that Harley was around five years her senior.
Barbara was about to call Harley back over when she felt someone tap on her shoulder. "Hey Barbara! Long time no see!" Barbara turned around to find Kara had finally shown up.
Barbara stood up and embraced her friend in hug. "Kara! it's been to long, how have you been?" She asked after releasing her.
"Oh, you know the usual. No shortage of creeps trying to make life difficult. Same with you I'm guessing?"
Barbara shook her head and grinned. "Try helping the military fight a domestic terrorist group." She proudly boasted.
"Wow, look at you! Moving up in the world!" Kara smiled.
"Yeah, got the scars to prove it too." Barbara brushed her hair aside to show Kara the scar on her neck from where she'd been shot.
Kara gasped as she studied the scar with wide eyes. "Geez, that looks nasty. Did it hurt?" She asked, tracing her fingers along the thin white line that ran across the right side of her friends neck.
"Yeah, I passed out a few times from blood loss but thankfully my Sergeant patched me up and got me help shortly afterwards." Barbara assured her, though Kara raised her brow at the last part.
"Your Sergeant?"
"Right, I forgot to mention that I was named an honorary U.S. Marine after rescuing a convoy from Deadshot, I was even awarded a medal by the Secretary of the Navy. Your looking at Private First Class Gordon." She said proudly. "My friend Alex Westbrook, he's the Sergeant originally tasked with cleaning up Gotham. We crossed paths and became friends shortly afterwards. Been working together ever since." Barbara explained.
"Wow, that is crazy Barbara." Kara replied, shaking her head in disbelief.
Barbara just chuckled at her bewildered friend. "You think that's crazy wait tell you meet my friend..." She told her just as Harley skipped her way back over, a box of hotdogs in hand.
"Oh my god, Babs you gotta try these their amazing!" Harley said with her mouth full as she reached the two.
Kara turned back to Barbara with a questioning look. "Is that..?"
"Kara meet Harleen Quinzel. Harleen, Kara." Barbara introduced.
Harley set her food down and extended her hand to Kara with a smile. "Please call me Harley, everyone does."
Kara somewhat hesitantly shook her hand and smiled nervously. "Right, I'm Kara. Nice to meet you...Harley..." She replied awkwardly.
Harley frowned and looked a bit hurt at Kara's reaction to her. "Sorry, should have known It'd be hard to meet new people with my history." She said, her head drooping sadly.
Seeing how quickly her mood had changed from bubbly and happy to sad made Kara feel bad, she didn't like making people feel sad, even if they were former criminals. "I'm sorry Harley, that was rude." She quickly apologized. "I know your trying to make up for everything you've done, and I've heard you've been doing a lot of good. Maybe we could be friends if you'd like?" Kara offered with a smile.
Harley picked her head up and smiled at the offer. "Thanks, I'd like that..."
Barbara smiled as her two friends came to an understanding. She laughed to herself when she noticed how similar they looked with their fair skin, blue eyes, and short blonde hair they could almost pass as twins she thought.
"...So then Babs, Alex, and my best friend Ivy raided Jokers hideout and rescued me, but Joker ended up shooting me here, then Alex shot him back and we all escaped just before the place blew sky high!" Harley explained to her new friend, showing her the scar above her left breast that Kara grimaced at before looking back up at her.
"Poison Ivy's a good guy now too? Barbara you've been having all this fun and didn't even invite me? I'm hurt!" Kara turned to the redhead and smacked her shoulder playfully.
Barbara laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Cause you got enough problems on your hands as is, remember?"
"Doesn't mean I couldn't use a little girl time with my best pal." Kara argued back.
""Yeah Babs! I can't believe you held out that Supergirl is your best friend!" Harley exclaimed.
Barbara sighed and rubbed her brow. "I'm gonna go get one of those hotdogs, you two wait here, alright." She said before walking off towards the vendor.
"Grab one for me too please!" Kara called after her as she left.
"Ain't she great." Harley asked.
"Yeah..." Kara sighed, her gaze still fixated on Barbara. Harley noticed Kara's attention on Barbara, or more accurately, her rear, and giggled.
"Oh my god, you like her don't you?!" She exclaimed, catching Kara off guard.
"What!? Of course I do she's my best friend!" Kara quickly replied.
"No, I mean you like like her." Harley persisted.
Kara quickly shushed her and brought her close. "I don't know what your talking about..." She insisted.
"So you weren't just staring at her ass?"
"No!... I was just..." Kara stammered, her cheeks growing more red as Harley just smiled at her.
"It's ok, I understand. I had crush on Ivy for a while, and I'm dating my best friend Alex now." Harley told her.
Kara took a breath to calm herself and looked towards Barbara to make sure she was out of ear shot before turning back to Harley. "Alright, yeah I like like her, but she doesn't know. She can't know, we've been friends a long time and I don't want a stupid crush to ruin our friendship." She whispered.
"Well Alex told me about his feelings and that turned out great for both of us. Same thing could happen with you, but you gotta try to find out. Besides, Bab's has been through the wringer helping the military, she could definitely use some romance in her life right now." Harley assured her.
Kara pondered Harley's words before looking back at Barbara again. She didn't know when she'd developed feelings for her, but after every time they've teamed up and Barbara left for Gotham Kara would get a noticeable pang in her heart. "You really think she'd go for me? Does she even like women?"
"Does it matter? So long as you make her happy who cares what you got down there?" Harley answered. "Look, we've gotta whole week of working together, plenty of time to hang out and get a feel for her as more than friends and I'll help you out if you want. But you gotta be the one to take the risk."
Kara seemed to brighten up and smiled back at Harley. "Yeah, your right. I should just go and tell her how I feel!" She said before walking to where Barbara was getting food.
Harley quickly grabbed Kara's shoulders and stopped her. "Whoa! Slow down there big girl, slow and steady wins the race, remember? Your definitely gonna scare her off if you go in guns blazing! Maybe take her out for dinner or something before declaring your undying love." She quickly advised.
"Yeah, that'd probably work better wouldn't it? How about tomorrow night? I'll have something planned by then. You'll be there right? Don't think I can do this on my own..." Kara asked as she rubbed her hands together nervously.
"Sure, just don't expect me to do all the work. Bab's is your crush not mine." Harley answered as Barbara walked up.
"What about Bab's now?" She asked, handing Kara her hotdog and wondering what they were talking about.
"Nothing, Kara was just about to ask you something." Harley answered, pushing the other blonde forward.
"I was? I mean yeah I was! I figured that since we haven't seen each other in a while I could take you, I mean the both of you, out to dinner tomorrow night? There's this really great restaurant downtown that has the best steak and we could go and eat there, the three of us! Not just you and me, unless you want it to be! Harley probably has better things to do, right Harley?" Kara asked nervously as Barbara looked at her confused as to why she was acting weird.
Harley sighed and smacked her forehead. "She'll be there, we'll both be there. Just send her the details." She answered for Barbara who was still bewildered by her friends sudden awkwardness.
"Right, I'll do that. I should probably get going, lots of things to do and you guys probably still gotta get settled in. I'll talk to you later Barbara, nice meeting you Harley!" Kara stammered before making a beeline towards the parking lot.
Barbara shook her head and looked at Harley. "That was weird, she's never been that awkward before..."
Harley sat down on the bench and sighed. "Oh if you only knew the half of it..."
...
After leaving the park Harley took Barbara shopping for something to wear to their dinner with Kara tomorrow night.
"I still don't see why we have to get dressed up for this, it's just dinner." Barbara sighed as she tried on another dress for Harley to look at.
"Well you haven't seen Kara in a while, don't you wanna look nice for her?" Harley reasoned.
"I guess, but doesn't this seem a bit much?" She asked as she emerged from the dressing room in a black dress that hugged her figure and showed off her curves.
"Nope, and I think that's the one." Harley told her.
Barbara looked down at the price tag and gasped. "Uh, you sure you can afford this?"
Harley waved the question off. "Don't worry about, I got plenty saved up, it's my treat to you. Now change outta that and help me find one..."
Later that night the two walked down the hallway of the hotel they were staying in when they bumped into Lieutenant Sanders.
"And where have you two been all day?" She asked, eyeing the bags in their hands.
"Oh, we just met with one of Barbara's friends. Nothing to worry about Ma'am." Harley quickly explained.
The Lieutenant raised her brow but chose to let it go. "Just remember that we're here on business. You can hangout with your friends but be on call if we need you, alright? Gordon, we got your LP/OP set up on the roof. Go and take a look at it later, make sure it's good."
"Will do, thank you Ma'am."
"Don't mention it, have a good night you two." The Lieutenant said as she continued on her way.
Barbara dropped her bag of in her and Harley's room before heading up to the roof. The Black Hawk was parked on the hotels landing pad and several monitors and antennas had been set up inside the troop compartment for her to use. She'd be filling in General Anderson's role and acting as a supervisor for Harley and Kara, walking them through everything once the mission began.
It wasn't that she didn't want to be on the ground with them, but someone had to do the job and she was the most qualified. Not that the officers with her weren't smart enough for it, they had to be smart in order to be pilots, but that's all they were assigned to do for her, be pilots. The one upside was that since she would be located in the helicopter all she had to do was take down a few antennas and Captain Thomas could fly her to the AO if needed.
Barbara was a bit nervous about running the show this time around, Harley, Kara, and Captain Thomas crew's lives were in her hands, but she was confident nonetheless. The training she'd received from her Father, Bruce, and the Marine Corps gave her a all the skills she'd need to run her mission.
But while that worried her Barbara was also concerned about Kara's sudden awkwardness and Harley's insistence about getting dressed up for her. She knew they were up to something regarding her but exactly what she couldn't figure out, but she guessed she'd find out tomorrow night what the deal was. Barbara took one last look over her setup in the helicopter before heading back down to she and Harley's room for the night, anxiously waiting to see what tomorrow would bring...
...
The next day Barbara and Harley met up with Kara early the next day to scout out the shopping center Lena's event, a charity concert, would be taking place at. The mall was relatively new, having been built by LexCorps last year the building was outfitted with a state of the art automated security system to supplement the human security detail.
"Wow would you look at the size of this place!" Harley exclaimed as she marveled at the enormous structure and all it's stores and vendors.
"Yeah, it's pretty amazing isn't it?" Kara agreed.
Barbara was relieved to see her friend was acting more herself today but she could swear that Kara's gaze lingered on her longer than usual but just chalked it up to her imagination.
They passed by the large indoor plaza the concert would be taking place at and Barbara mentally noted all the possible avenues of approach.
"This is too open, Lena's easy sniper bait here, and that skylight above us would allow enemy troops a quick way to deploy large numbers." She voiced out loud.
"Assuming there is a threat, we're here to keep an eye on things and intervene if necessary. Besides automated security can handle a few armed gun men." Kara replied.
Barbara snapped her fingers at Kara's remark. "What if they comprised the automated security!? There's not that many security personnel, it'll give them the perfect window to attack!" She exclaimed.
Kara frowned at the thought but Barbara did have a point. "They'd have to compromise the servers and only LexCorps security personnel have access." She informed the others.
"Yeah but from what Ivy said it sounds like they've been planning this for months, plenty of time for one or more creeps to infiltrate the security detail. It'll only take one to shut down the servers." Barbara explained.
"Well why don't we find where these servers are and we can make sure their not messed with on game day?" Harley suggested to them.
"Good idea Harl's, Kara?" Barbara turned to her friend but she was already making use of her X-ray vision to locate the hub.
"There." She replied, pointing towards a staff exit on the floor below them. "It's through there, past a security checkpoint but it looks like there's a maintenance lift leading to the section they're remodeling. Cut through the construction and you should be able to bypass the checkpoint." She told them.
"Maintance lift, got it." Harley replied as she surveyed the floor for the best route. "Think that about does it for the recon Bab's. What'd ya say we blow this joint, gotta lot of prepping to do for tonight." She said with a wink to Kara who blushed in response.
Barbara definitely knew they were up to something now but she decided to play along and pretend she didn't notice. Hopefully Harley would slip up and spill the beans between then and now.
"Sure Harley, let's go. See you tonight Kara!" She said, waving goodbye to her friend as she and Harley left.
...
"Alright you two, remember to be home by midnight and no boys!" Captain Thomas told Barbara and Harley as he dropped them off in front of the restaurant Kara had told them to meet at.
Harley turned back to the car and grinned. "Oh, no need to worry about that Sir, trust me. Thanks again for the ride!" She said with a wave as the Captain drove off before leading Barbara inside the building.
They spotted Kara sitting by herself at a table in the back dressed in a blue dress that matched her eyes. As they made their way over Harley scouted out the other patrons for anyone suspicious, determined to not have this evening go like the last one but everyone seemed to be minding their business.
"Hey you guys, glad you could make it!" Kara greeted as the two met her. "Wow! Barbara you look beautiful!" She gushed as she took in the sight of her crush and Harley had to hold back a giggle as she saw Barbara blush a bit at the compliment.
"Thanks Kara, you look great too." Barbara returned the compliment as she sat across from her.
"Told you she'd like it Bab's." Harley said as she sat next to Barbara.
"I should take you out shopping with me sometime Harley, you got a good eye." Kara replied with a smile.
"Good eye ain't all I got Blondie..." Harley said with a wink.
Kara blushed and pretended to be interested in the menu. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean." She replied before waving the waiter over.
As the evening went on Harley watched as Kara tried her best to flirt with Barbara but grimaced as she came across as more awkward than anything despite Harley's efforts to provide her with opportunities to make her feelings known to Barbara. After another botched attempt at flirting Harley downed another glass of wine before sighing and ordering another one. Barbara was picking up on Kara's awkwardness but how she remained oblivious to the meaning behind her friends words was a mystery.
For her part, Barbara had been focusing more on figuring out what her friends were up to, but Kara just seemed to be tripping over her words and blushing constantly when Barbara caught her staring while Harley seemed to be focused more and more on her wine as the evening went on.
Kara had just finished apologizing for another awkward sentence when Barbara cut her off. "Don't take this the wrong way Kara but you've been acting kinda weird lately. Is everything alright?" She asked, concerned that something was wrong with her friend.
"Yeah, of course I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be!?" She stammered out. "I think I need another drink..." Kara said quietly before getting up and heading over to the bar.
Barbara watched her go before looking over at Harley to find her drinking straight from the wine bottle.
"I don't know what they put in this stuff but it's amazing! Ya wanna try some Babsy?" Harley slurred, her accent returning in her drunken state as she held the bottle out to her.
"Uh, no thanks Harl. I'm gonna go see what's up with Kara." Barbara replied.
"Blondie's fine, jus' dealin with a small crush is all." Harley drunkenly blurted out, catching Barbara's attention.
"Oh, that explains the awkwardness. If she wanted my help she should've just asked." Barbara said as Harley took another swig.
Harley laughed at her comment and smiled. "Yeah but she already asked me fer help! An I'm doin the best I can but man she sucks at flirting!" She exclaimed.
Barbara raised her brow in surprise as she processed her friends words and started to put everything together. "Harley...who is Kara's crush?"
Harley looked at her and giggled. "Blondie's got a thing fer Bab's, but she can't know! Barbara can't know..." She giggled, having drunk to the point of being oblivious to who she was talking to.
Barbara sat there in stunned silence, taking in what Harley had just told her and glancing over to where Kara stood at the bar. All of a sudden everything made sense, Kara's awkwardness, her lingering gaze. She was a fool for not recognizing her friends affection for her earlier. Barbara couldn't have possibly imagined that her best friend would grow romantic feeling's towards her, she liked Kara, she really did and strangely she found that she wasn't immediately opposed to the idea.
Barbara hadn't had a serious relationship since she'd broken up with Dick a few years back and nowadays she often felt the need for comfort her friends couldn't provide her. She'd never been attracted to other women but now, knowing that Kara had feelings for her, she found herself confused. Kara was beautiful, smart, strong, reliable, and Barbara did have to admit she found her cute when she was embarrassed, but she'd never thought about her in that way before. Barbara had to figure this out before it blew up in her face.
She found Kara at the bar just as the blonde finished downing a shot of whiskey to help calm her nerves and Barbara suddenly wished she had one herself. "Hey Kara, can I talk to you outside?" Barbara asked, gesturing towards the balcony.
"Uh, sure thing Barbara. I actually needed to talk to you..." Kara replied as she set her glass down and allowed Barbara to lead her outside.
Out on the Balcony Barbara leaned against the railing and watched the city as she gathered her thoughts. She saw Kara join her out of the corner of her eye and looked over to see her staring at the railing.
"Kara I..." Barbara began but was suddenly cut off when Kara leaned over and kissed her softly. Barbara's eyes were wide open in surprise, had this been anyone else she would have already punched them, but this was Kara and as her brain recognized what was happening she relaxed into the kiss just as Kara pulled away and blushed furiously.
"I'm sorry Barbara, I don't know what came over me..." Kara quickly apologized.
Barbara took Kara's hand in hers and smiled. "It's ok Kara, Harley told me everything." She replied.
"Oh...I feel like such a fool. I should've just told you, but I was so worried that you'd hate me..."
"Nothing could ever make me hate you Kara." Barbara assured her.
Kara looked like she was about to cry as she smiled back at Barbara. "I should have known. So, how do you feel...about us as more than friends?" Kara asked shyly.
"I...I can't answer that right now Kara. I like you, maybe as more than friends, but there's so much going on...I don't think I have time for a relationship." Barbara explained.
She wished she could give a more concrete answer, but truth was she really didn't know. Barbara liked the appeal of having a relationship again but she had never expected the opportunity to come from her best friend. She liked Kara well enough but her feelings about her were conflicted now. On one hand they worked well together as friends but on the other she had no doubt that Kara could make her happy romantically if Barbara let her. It was all to confusing and she needed more time to process her thoughts and feelings.
Kara's face fell and she sighed sadly. "Oh...I understand. Maybe when your done doing whatever it is your doing we can try again?" She asked hopefully.
Barbara looked into Kara's eyes and smiled. "I think I'd like that..."
...Mission Complete...